American President Offers Youth Renewed Hope:
Smartly wrapping up the campaign pre-season with a whirlwind college tour, President Obama strengthened his connections with America's youth, by emphasizing the critical need for affordable education. In a series of pre-campaign stops in North Carolina, Colorado and Iowa, Barack Obama seized the opportunity to acknowledge the struggles of America's current and future prospects.
As college students nationwide have racked up an insurmountable debt burden of $1 trillion to finance their education, even that is expected to increase. With employment and wages decreasing for 25-34 year old Americans while cost of college degrees are set to spike, President Obama's efforts to stave off a doubling of student loan interest rates was received with cheers of relief.
According to the Business Insider "The interest rate for Subsidized Stafford Loans loans distributed by the U.S. Department of Education is set to double to 6.8 percent on July 1, 2012, meaning that 7.4 million of America's 20.5 million college students will see their college costs go up an average of $1,000 per year of school unless Congress acts." (Good luck with that!) In order to remain globally competitive, the Obama administration is emphasizing the importance of investing in "affordable" educating.
Although university students of Europe are currently facing a far worse employment forecast, (Spain @ 24.8% with youth's staggeringly higher) at least they aren't saddled with a life long commitment of debt. Bottom line, the cost of college for the average borrower opting for a full Subsidized Stafford Loan is scheduled to increase by 20 percent next year.
If the employment outlook don't pick up and maintain momentum, a generation of American students (maybe more) could find themselves mired in debt with little hope of repayment. Since this type of debt can't be charged off in bankruptcy, (as if that's something to look forward to) theoretically many could be staring at years of financial misery. The President himself admitted it took nearly two decades to payoff his student loans as he stumped for Congressional action.
While the President's addressing of the student loan interest rate issue garnered excitement from an indispensable demographic (and the parents thereof), the GOP's response could be described as frail frantic and foolish. House Speaker John Boehner was reduced to bitching about the cost of the President's trip, stating "it was beneath the dignity of the White House" when he traveled around the country this week to pressure Republicans to help keep federal student loan costs from ballooning. Boehner said Obama should reimburse taxpayers for the trips' costs.
The political fight brewing now is how to find the money to keep student loan rates low another year. The Democrats say force high-earning owners of some privately owned corporations to pay more Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes. The House GOP has a Bill that would cut a $17 billion prevention and public health fund for immunization campaigns, research, screenings and wellness education to cover the cost of keeping student loans rates down. Now we ask you, who do you think is gonna win this battle?
Comments
Post a Comment